


Bad Business

by Amethyst_Dawn



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars: Rebellion Era - All Media Types, Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) - All Media Types
Genre: Bounty Hunters, Brotherly Love, Force Bond (Star Wars), Friendship, Galactic Republic, Gen, On the Run, Platonic Relationships, Post-Order 66, Post-War, References to Depression, References to Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008), Survival
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-05-09
Updated: 2020-05-09
Packaged: 2021-03-03 03:01:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,805
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24087784
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Amethyst_Dawn/pseuds/Amethyst_Dawn
Summary: CT-8701, Captain Torren, met Jedi Saxyre Udre when he became Commander of the 965th during the second year of the Clone Wars. Having become close friends Saxyre refused to let Order 66 rip them apart.In a vain attempt to have Torren's chip removed safely Saxyre gets drawn into a race against a deadly group for a potentially even deadlier bounty for a crime lord. It's either going to save Torren from a madness or kill Saxyre and Torren in the process.
Relationships: Original Clone Trooper Character(s) & Original Character(s)
Kudos: 1





	Bad Business

CT-8701 turned himself in his sleep. He hadn't completed his mission. He had to finish him, the Jedi must be wiped out. They're traitors to the Republic. He woke suddenly and tried to sit up but was restrained by multiple thick straps. They had caught him, he had failed a mission he hadn't wanted...? A sheen of sweat dampened his brow as he tried to remember why he was here, how he got to this dark and dirty room. His thoughts were cut short as a kid's voice cut the silence; a Jedi kid.

"Torren?" 

Torren pushed against the straps again and strained until he broke into a cold sweat.

"Good soldiers follow orders." He muttered as he eased with exhaustion. 

The young Jedi pressed a hand to the clone's chest and warmth spread over him. 

"I have to. I have to." He chanted. "Good soldiers follow orders."

"But Torren you're not a good soldier," Muted realization blossomed in his chest. He was a great soldier. "you're a great soldier."

"Saxyre Udre, you are sentenced to death as a compensation for your betrayal. You are a traitor kid." He put all he had in the last word. A plea for him to _realize_. Tears shot into his eyes, he'd been at this too long. "Sax."

The warmth emanating from the Nautolan's hand steadied and grew as he continued to speak, ignoring Torren's controlled accusation.

"I need you to tell me what's wrong Tor. I need you to speak to me. What's happening?"

"The order. I'm following my orders. Good soldiers follow orders."

"No. Torren, that's from your dreams remember? That's what you'd say but it's all in your head."

His insistence had the trooper clawing for his own words, not the ones in his head. He nodded urgently then shook his head. "You're in my head!" He pushed against the restraints again and Saxyre's warmth turned cold with fear and concern and then it returned and eased him into a sleep he couldn't have resisted if he wanted to. 

* * *

Saxyre watched Torren's eyes roll under his eyelids. Eight days since he had first turned his gun on him and all he got was "good soldiers follow orders", his death sentence and "sixty-six". Torren's skin had turned sallow and his frame was thinning from malnourishment so was Saxyre's. They had been in this blockhouse too long with too little food and Torren hadn't even eaten nearly enough in his craze of "eliminating" Saxyre.

Maybe he should just put him down as he did all the other soldiers that had got in his way of safety trying to kill him. But Torren was his friend, he'd never willingly hurt him. _It's all in his head_. He wasn't a traitor to the Republic neither was Saxyre, they were victims to a traitor. Someone who had control, who had messed with the clones' heads.

"Come on Tor. What's the matter with you?" Sax felt so out of tune with the force despite having been drawing in it as a secondary life line. 

Everything was failing him, he should be able to find out what's wrong, he had been searching with the force for _days_ and yet all he had felt was conflict from an unidentified source it maybe from Torren himself. He had ticked off mind control, force manipulation and hypnosis. All that was left was witchcraft and still that made no sense.

Torren was still there, Saxyre could hear him, could hear his plea under the stoic words he uttered but it was during those utterances that Saxyre felt the least caring to do something. It was that voice that was paired with a hundred clones that shot down his master, including Torren's.

"I swear I'll figure this out." He massaged his temples. It'd be easier to investigate if he could search for the source of the tyranny but it wasn't safe out there yet. 

The blockhouse was hot at this time of day, the metal walls burned to the touch in the light of Coruscant's artifical light. It wasn't controlled here in the discarded blockhouse, no air filters or moisture to even the atmosphere. It made Saxyre's teal skin flake and yellow with dehydration, his head-tails head compacted into half their original size to conserve his liquid and even then he found himself splayed on the shader side of the blockhouse trying to cool down--sweat all but abandoned him.

He sunk back on the chair he had found as he refused to come up with any ideas. He used to lookout for the first few days until he was sure that no one was coming but this time someone did. He heard the rattling a few minutes before and jumped up and took a defensive position in front of the unconscious clone but didn't take out his lightsaber, it might be better if it stayed hidden under his cardigan. Instead he took up Torren's 15A which he didn't know how to use properly but had some knowledge of how to hold it. By the time he set himself up casually using the back of the chair to prop the gun the intruder was already at the door. 

The intruder's senses were sharp and particular. He'd seen a lot and his caution went to show. The door to the bunker swung open until it hit the back wall and a lanky figure stood in the doorframe clearly silhouetted and holding an LL-30 with his left hand palming a holstered second. He had an abnormal head topped with an obnoxious hat.

"Who are ya and whadd'ya want?" He voice was harsh and lilted with a hollow and raspy undertone. 

"I could ask the same of you." Saxyre tried to make a tough voice but it probably didn't work. 

"This'sis my bunker. You get out or I'll put ya out." He took easy steps forward and Saxyre adjusted Torren's gun. "I'm warning you kid."

"And _I'm_ warning _you_. I've got a temper." He was still failing at sounding tough. 

"Is that a clone?" The figure stepped into a clearer view and Saxyre identified him as Duros.

"No." He cursed the desperation in his voice crack.

"Looks like a clone to me." The Duros put his gun away as if he thought Saxyre not worth the trouble, it was insulting but at least his guard was down. "You carry him all the way up here? Hiding from someone?"

Saxyre watched him as he got too close to his friend. He was most definitely a bounty hunter, possibly the one that stole the holocron during the war, he fit the description. He fit the description of the hunter that made a lot of trouble for the Republic. 

"Who are you?" Saxyre followed him with the barrel of the 15A, already having assessed the Duros' threat level. 

"Cad Bane." He said simply as he traced the 965th tattooed onto Torren's head--their battalion.

"Get away from him!" Saxyre's voice shook more than he intended.

"Take him an' leave. You've got five minutes." He walked into the shadows of the bunker and left Torren and Saxyre somewhat alone.

Saxyre didn't have a working speeder, the scrap speeder he had salvaged to get up here had broke down and the gas had leaked to a few drops, he knew because he had tried to leave before. He had resigned to wait until he could usher a public speeder when the chaos following the Jedi Siege had ended but now it was either leave or the Bounty Hunter that watched him from the shadows would "put him out". Still Saxyre acted like he knew what he was doing.

Torren was heavy with all his armor but Saxyre had lifted heavier. He carried him with he relatively small body to the blockhouse dock before he set him down. Bane had come in his own speeder and Saxyre laid eyes on it once before he checked for Bands as he dumped Torren into the back seat and jumped in the front. Saxyre was able to get it running just as Bane's footsteps echoed behind him. He launched the speeder straight into the lines of traffic and checked behind him to find, to his dismay, the Duros launching himself off the hulls of other speeders with small engine flames jutting out of his boots to cover any distance.

Saxyre jumped lanes and served around the traffic to try and lose the enraged hunter. Torren bounced in the backseat but stayed in the force-induced sleep he had put him in. Bane amazingly gained in him until he was just one speeder away from him. Why did he want the speeder so bad, didn't bounty hunters have stashes of these things for emergencies? Stashes or not, Bane still jumped after him. He flew at full speed until he realized where he was headed. The entrance to the lower-levels were close, he could disappear there.

Saxyre had been to the lower-levels once with his master during the Clone War but apparently he didn't retain any knowledge of the trip because he made a large ruckus just trying to enter. He just missed multiple speeders as he decended not at all in the calm and slow way the other speeders and freighters did.

"Nice and easy. Nice and easy." He chanted.

He went into a jarring tumble as he hit a platform and he more or less free fell from the collision point. He couldn't see Bane anymore which he assumed was a good thing but as soon as he landed (very sloppily and harshly) he jumped out and dragged Torren into the crowds of worn and scraggly citizens. He didn't stop stumbling with Torren bring dragged behind him until nearly an hour later. He was sure Torren had doubled in weight when he finally dragged them into a muddy alleyway. Sweat had gathered in between his head-tails and in his armpits despite the cool breeze that lingered around in the lower-levels. 

He slumped against the dirty building, much as he had positioned his clone friend, and let out the longest of sighs. These eight days had been the longest he'd ever experienced but at least he was making progress. He'd gotten out of the blockhouse and surely there'd be someone to fix Torren in the masses of people looking for credits but they didn't have currency. Not a bit of it. From here on out they were just like anyone else. And, yes, Saxyre was aware of his unwavering inclusion of Torren's presence. He didn't plan to continue without him. The end of the war was here, they were going to enjoy it even if it took years until then--they'd waited years before. 

"Please Tor. You've got to fight it." Saxyre whispered as he leaned his head against the building. 


End file.
